[Vision2020] The Sociopath Next Door

[Ed Jones]

Hmmmm...oddly enough, this sounds like 90% of the people on this list! The self-consumption continues.

Going placidly,

Ed Jones

> 
> Visionaries:
> 
> Last night on the Auntie E and Brother Carl radio show, Auntie read some
> excerpts from the recently publishedThe Sociopath Next Door  by  Martha Stout,
> Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, Broadway Books, (a division of  Random House)
> 2005.  Dr. Stout maintains that one out of 25 "ordinary  Americans" 
> is without a
> conscience, i.e. sociopathic.  Auntie read  some of the identifying
> characteristics of this personality type on  air.  I wanted to 
> share a few more with
> v2020 readers.  Remember, very  few sociopaths are serial killers 
> or rapists, but
> they do effectively destroy  lives in other ways.
> 
> "You [i.e. the sociopath] become unimaginably, unassailably, and maybe  even
> globally successful.  Why not?  With your big brain, and no  conscience to
> rein in your schemes you can do anything at all.
> 
> Or no--let us say you are not quite such a person.  Your are  ambitious, yes,
> and in the name of success you are willing to do all manner of  things that
> people with conscience would never consider, but you are not an  
> intellectually
> gifted individual.  Your intelligence is above average  perhaps, and people
> think of you as smart, maybe even very smart.  But you  know in your heart of
> hearts that you do not have the cognitive wherewithal, or  the creativity, to
> reach the careening heights of power you secretly dream  about, and this makes
> you resentful of the world at large, and envious of the  people around you....
> 
> As this sort of person, you ensconce yourself in a niche, or maybe a series
> of niches, in which you can have some amount of control over small numbers of
> people. .... you do enjoy jobs that afford you a certain under-supervised
> control over a few individuals or small groups, preferably people 
> and groups who
>   are relatively helpless or in some way vulnerable.  ...Whatever your  job,
> you manipulate and bully the people who are under your thumb, as often and  as
> outrageously as you can without getting fired or held accountable.  You  do
> this for its own sake, even when it serves no purpose except to give you a
> thrill.  Making people jump means you have power - or this is the 
> way you  see it
> - and bullying provides you with an adrenaline rush.....And this is  power,
> especially when the people you manipulate are superior to you in some  way.
> Most invigorating of all is to bring down people who are smarter or  more
> accomplished than you, or perhaps classier, more attractive or 
> popular or  morally
> admirable. pg 3-4
> 
> "One of the more frequently observed of these traits [sociopathic] is a  glib
> and superficial charm that allows the true sociopath to seduce other  people,
> figuratively or literally--a kind of glow or charisma that, initially,  can
> make the sociopath seem more charming or more interesting than most of the
> normal people around him.  He or she is more spontaneous, or more intense,  or
> somehow more "complex", or sexier, or more entertaining that everyone  else.
> Sometimes this "sociopathic charisma" is accompanied by a grandiose  sense of
> self-worth that may be compelling at first, but upon closer  
> inspection may seem
> odd or perhaps laughable.  ("Someday the world will  realize how special I
> am.")   pg.    7
> 
> and most chilling,
> 
> "Sociopaths are infamous for their refusal to acknowledge responsibility  for
> the decisions they make, or for the outcomes of their decisions.  In  fact, a
> refusal to see the results of one's bad behavior as having anything  to do
> with ones self - "consistent irresponsibility" in the language of 
> the  American
> Psychiatric Association - is a corner stone of the antisocial  personality.
> pgs 49 -50.
> 
> "When deciding whom to trust, bear in mind that the combination of
> consistently bad or egregiously inadequate behavior with frequent 
> plays for your  pity
> is as close to a warning mark on a conscienceless person's forehead as you
> will ever be given."   pg.109
> 
> Dr. Stout, does not offer a hopeful outcome for these personality  types -
> after all, they can not acknowledge that they are the  problem. Consequently,
> therapy does not provide insight or impetus  for change.  However, 
> for the rest
> of us - the book is a useful  tool to learn to recognize and avoid 
> these folks.
> 
> Rose Huskey

>
> 
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